11 comments:

Abuse of low income people --"poor bashing" -- on a daily basis by unionized povertarians is an unchecked epidemic on the Downtown Eastside. That's why it's being exposed on this blog. When you call that "union-bashing", you are deflecting attention from the real issue.

As a Toronto resident I must say the Downtown Eastside Enquirer has certainly opened my eyes. The abuse of power by the NDP Party is disgusting which is why I voted conservative today. A food bank across the street from me employs eight to ten people that earn annual salaries of eighty thousand dollars per year. The two directors earn over a hundred thousand per year. The homeless guy Bill Simpson is correct when he uses the term povetarian. Poverty is a business. I also find that disgusting. Kudos to the DTES residents for exposing the NDP party for who they really are.

You call the Toronto resident an "idiot", but his or her observations about poverty industry salaries are corroborated by many people. You mention InSite: I was told that 7 people at PHS which operates InSite are making over $100,000 a year (I haven't confirmed that.) None of those people could get jobs in the private sector that paid such high wages. Last I heard, Libby Davies' son, Lief Erickson, was working at InSite, and NDP MLA Jenny Kwan's husband was working for PHS. And the co-Executive Directors of PHS, Liz Evans and Mark Townsen, are a husband and wife team: how much competition went on for a spouse to get that high-paying job. I realize that every political party engages in nepotism, but the poverty industry is where the NDP's nepotism is well-entrenched. Health care dollars shouldn't be falling into the hands of people based on who they're related to or who they're literally in bed with.

Anonymous stated that Bill Simpson is right when he uses the term povetarian, but he couldn't be more than wrong with this issue. If a person is truly disabled he might need some of these services. Since most people in the DTES aren't disabled, just lazy, drugged out or have such a poor work record that nobody will hire them.

The more people that use these resources, the more we enable the unions to collect our money.

Stop using these services and keep away from any place that you think is povetarian and see how quickly they start to hurt. By using these places we are enabling them! Remember, as long as we need them, they will stay if not grow.

"Stop using these services and keep away from any place that you think is povertarian and see how quickly they start to hurt. By using these places we are enabling them!"

Rex,

Bill Simpson would agree with you about the need to stop using these services. In an interview on Co-op Radio, he said that to engage with the staff at Carnegie -- even in an effort to get them to improve their behaviour -- is to simply reinforce their role. He has also said that even if his barring from Carnegie were lifted, he probably would not go back because he believes that by using such places, you're contributing to the problem.

The poverty industry is such a racket. The third world quality of elections on the Downtown Eastside is something that never ceases to amaze me. Not only can an election result be changed as in the case of Bill Simpson, not only are there no neutral scrutineers to curb suspicions of rigging, but people are paid cash to show up to vote at elections.

A Carnegie member told us that Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users [VANDU] paid it's members to show up to vote at an election for the Board of the new Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council, an umbrella advocacy group. The witness said VANDU members who showed up at a Council election held in the Carnegie Centre theatre, lined up by the Carnegie patio after the election to get their cash payments handed out by VANDU. The witness said loudly, "Is this where you line up for the drug money?" Nobody responded.

I would assume that if someone is paid to show up at an election and vote, they are being told in advance who to vote for. At least that's the way it's done in the third world.

I knew a VANDU Board member who said that he was paid $40 for every Board meeting he attended, and the general membership were paid less to show up.

I don't recall if I reported what a DES woman told us about a woman eating lunch at the DES Women's Centre who was complaining that she was extremely tired but had meetings to attend. "Just don't go," the woman doing the listening suggested. "I need the money", the tired woman said. The tired woman was getting paid to show up at Board meetings on the Downtown Eastside; she was on a number of Boards and was constantly making the rounds. This is an arrangement that I'm told is quite common on the DES.